Softball: Elyria Catholic's Jessica Conner repeats as first-team all-region

When it comes to Lorain County softball, not many players can boast the accolades Elyria Catholic's Jessica Conner has accumulated during the first half of her high school career. The Panthers outfielder added to the resume Tuesday as she was named to the National Fastpitch Coaches Association All-Region VIII first team for the second straight year. "This award is huge when you go by the size of the region," EC softball coach Jim Piazza said. "I can't even remember how many states are involved but when you get to be on this level and be recognized by people across the nation, that's a pretty big honor." Last year's all-region honor led to Conner being named to the NFCA All-American second team as a freshman. Piazza said the All-American teams will be announced later in July and Conner has a chance to add another huge honor to her growing list. "It's definitely a lot more special because there's a bigger pool of girls that you have to compete with," Conner said of the national recognition. "(Earning All-American status) is a pretty big goal because I did it as a freshman and that's really hard to do. So it'd be amazing if I did it again." Conner has duplicated her postseason awards during her two varsity seasons. Both years she was named to the all-conference first team, All-Lorain County first team, all-district first team and All-Ohio second team. She was named the Great Lakes Conference Player of the Year as a freshman and the North Coast Conference Player of the Year as a sophomore. The recognition doesn't come as a surprise to Piazza. "Jess is an extremely hard-working kid and is not only a good softball player, but a good person," Piazza said. "To watch her be able to achieve a lot of these accomplishments has been great because of the person that she is and the work that she puts in. It's nice that she gets rewarded for it." The awards are nearly the same because Conner's seasons were nearly identical. As a freshman, she went 50-for-85 (.588) with 43 runs scored, 40 RBIs, five home runs, 14 doubles and three triples in 25 games. During her sophomore season, she went 51-for-92 (.554) with 37 runs scored, 56 RBIs, eight homers, 14 doubles and a triple in 26 games. She has only four strikeouts in 193 career plate appearances, has 29 stolen bases and has committed only one error while having two outfield assists. "I think that my first years have been pretty solid years, obviously, but I think that I could do a little bit better than what my numbers are right now," Conner said. "But, overall, I think I was able to impress myself as well as everyone else. "I usually will hit a few times a week and just try to keep working on the fundamentals. You have to stretch yourself out, take care of your body and eat right … just keep putting in the work all year round, not just during the high school season." Besides helping the Panthers with her work on the diamond, Piazza said Conner has served as a role model to teammates. "I think Jess does that mostly by her work ethic," he said. "The one thing I know is that Jess is never satisfied. She always thinks she can be better. She can smoke a ball 90 mph off the bat and come in and say, 'I could have hit that harder.' That's just the type of kid she is … she's not going to sit back and not put the work in. I think the other kids see that and what she does and that just helps elevate the program." With Conner set to become an upperclassman, Piazza is excited for what she might add to her leadership abilities. "I would like her to continue to improve as a vocal leader," he said. "This year we had Hannah Brooks and (Conner) didn't have to take that lead but going forward I'd like to see her take more of a leadership role and involve more of our players into the program to where we're all getting on the same page and continuing to improve." Elyria Catholic has been climbing the ladder of success the past few years and captured the school's third district championship last season, its first since 2017. The Panthers were ranked No. 2 in Division IV in the coaches' final state poll. "I think next year is going to be another big year for us," Conner said. "Now that we've experienced what it was like to make it that far and what to expect, I think everyone is going to go into next season with a lot of confidence. Now we just need to bring everything together so we can eventually win the state championship." Contact Shaun Bennett at (440) 329-7137 or sbennett@chroniclet.com. Like him on Facebook and follow him @ShaunBennettct on X.